Ginny Weasley and the Society of Corvus Nigresco
by Crookedhalo
Summary: Ginny's third year wasn't spent merely sitting on the sidelines while the boy she loved risked his life time after time for the Triwizard Tournament. Instead, her third year was filled with new friends, realizations, and even a first kiss. This is Ginny's
1. Chapter 1

Of Dragons and Dungeons

_Plink. Plink. _

Somewhere, there was water dripping on the cold, bare floor of the Chamber. The drops may have been miniscule, but they echoed throughout the cavernous space, sounding ten times larger than life.

Her vision was blurred as she attempted to focus on the all too familiar cave, her eyes falling on the statue of a man that was terrifying. A man she would later come to know as Salazar Slytherin, founder of the least-liked house at her school.

For now, the redhead darted out of the way as a great stream of fire hit the ground where she'd been standing just minutes before.

"Ginny!" a voice called after her, and she looked up, just in time to see a flurry of golden wings flying directly at her. And then a pair of arms had scooped her up, easily tossing her behind him. She held onto the boy, who was perched atop the creature as easily as though he had grown up riding one. The creature was recognizable as a Griffin, from the golden wings, to the lion's hindquarters, which she was now perched upon.

"Harry, what are we doing?" Ginny shouted to him as they flew around the dragon, drawing blasts from it, and only narrowly missing the stream of fiery breath several times.

"Slaying the dragon," he informed her, and she realized that he had now pocketed his wand-which was good, as he'd thrown out a few spells, and all of them had been deflected by the dragon's scales-and was now wielding a sword.

"Harry, you can't-I mean, that's crazy. You do realize that's a dragon you're facing, don't you?"

"It's not a dragon. It just looks like one," Harry informed her, before leaning forward on the Griffin, which dove directly towards the dragon's head. Ginny shrieked and buried her face in Harry's back.

And then, a second later, there was a loud screeching noise, and then, she looked up, just in time to see Harry's sword slice clean through the dragon's neck, beheading it. She screamed as the head fell towards the ground, but the dragon's body dissolved into ashes, falling away, instead, the figure of a boy of fifteen was falling.

"Tom!" Ginny shrieked involuntarily, watching as the boy who'd communicated with her over her first year fell to his death.

And then, just as she'd begun to find peace with the idea, flames erupted from the ground. A moment later, a small dragon emerged from the flames, rapidly aging, swelling to the size of the dragon they'd just faced earlier-and then swelling even larger.

She turned to Harry, horrified, to see what he had up his sleeve, but Harry seemed completely unconcerned, instead steering the Griffin towards a golden snitch.

"Watch out for the dragon!" Ginny shouted.

The last words, had been shouted loudly enough, to jolt her awake. As she came to, they were punctuated with a resounding thud. The youngest of the Weasley clan sat straight up in bed, her hopelessly knotted red hair falling onto her shoulders as she glanced at the floor next to her bed, spotting the title of the book she'd been reading when she must have drifted to sleep last night- Furnunculus, Finger Removing, Tarantallegra, Bat-Bogeys: More Hexes to Confound Your Friends and Perplex Your Enemies. It had been Charlie's, once upon a time, and since she'd found it concealed under one of the floorboards in the room that used to belong to Bill and Charlie and now belonged to her, she'd been reading it at night, hiding it under the floorboard during the day, practicing the incantations and wand movement involved for some of the more interesting hexes.

"Dragons? Dreaming about Charlie at work again?" her eldest brother's voice broke through the panic that always followed these sorts of dreams. He smiled sheepishly, his head just appearing in the doorway. "Sorry, Mum wants you down for breakfast."

"Oh," she said quietly, getting out of bed quickly and pulling her dressing gown around her pajamas.

"Hey, princess, I thought you outgrew that," Bill said gently, pulling her into a quick hug.

When Charlie had first decided to go work with the dragons, Ginny had cried for a week straight. She'd also cried the first time a month passed without an owl, convinced that he'd been eaten by a dragon. But she'd been nine at the time.

She didn't have the heart, or perhaps was just too stubborn to admit it, but the things that plagued her nightmares went far beyond things that an ordinary child feared. So, instead, she lied.

"I am, mostly. I just have nightmares about it every once in awhile. How's Egypt?"

Bill grinned at the change of subject. "Not too bad. Enjoying your summer holiday?"

"Of course," she said, giving him a slightly mischievous grin, before her gaze traveled over to the book that was now sprawled on her floor, half considering if it was safe enough to shove it into the hiding place. Of course, Bill wouldn't really care. And he was most likely aware of the loose floorboard anyway. At any rate, he wasn't about to go off and tell mum. So, she picked up the book, lifted the floorboard, and stowed it safely underneath, replacing the floorboard.

For his part, Bill laughed. "I see you've found Charlie's old hiding spot. I'll make a note to check under there for love letters," he teased, reaching over and tugging her ear.

"For-what?" Ginny asked, looking up at him in surprise. But it was too late. With a loud yelp, Bill had tackled her, commencing the tickling war that was now standard whenever the two saw each other.

Ginny shrieked with laughter and reacted quickly, fighting back with all she had, finally resulting in the two of them breaking apart, both shaking with laughter as they caught their breath on her floor.

"So, princess," Bill asked as they finally began to breathe normally, the laughter slowing. "Tell me, what's new with you?" He looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. "Any boyfriends I need to hex?"

"No," she said quickly, jumping to her feet as her mum's voice was heard from the bottom of the stairs, calling them both to breakfast.

"No boyfriends? Or no boyfriends I need to hex?" Bill asked.

"Guess," Ginny said, springing to her feet with a laugh and darting out of the room, down the stairs, and settling herself into a spot at the kitchen table, arranging her face into an innocent expression, smiling at her mother as though she'd been there the whole time, accomplishing all of this well before Bill could react and catch up to her.


	2. Chapter 2

They're All a Bit Thick, Aren't They?

"Here, put this in there too."

Ginny slowly opened her eyes as George's voice from out in the hall infiltrated her dreams, blending with them for a moment until she fully came out of the long, cold corridors that filled her dreams. Last night, it had been a maze of them, all equally as dark and chilling.

Fortunately, they had been absent, for once, of the dragons, snakes and evil wizards that usually populated such dreams. The presence of one such evil wizard, however, had been felt.

Ginny sighed inaudibly, straining to hear her brother's hushed voices in lieu of dwelling on her nightmares.

"Excellent. I'm almost glad we weren't able to convince Ron to test this first. It'll be much more interesting, watching his reaction."

"Yes, it will. The question is how do we slip one to him without being obvious?"

There was a silence, and Ginny couldn't help but grin as she pictured her two brothers looking at each other, the identical looks on their face making it clear that they were both sharing the same idea, and communicating it to each other without need for words.

"Yes. That's perfect," Fred's laughing statement confirmed her suspicions.

As she heard the twins' laughter echoing, growing further away as they bounded down the stairs, Ginny got up, fumbling in her wardrobe for something to wear, only just realizing where the twins were off to.

Last time Harry had been at her house, she'd been taken completely by surprise, wandering downstairs for breakfast in her night gown. She still coloured at the memory. And then, the next year she'd again been taken by surprise at going to dinner with her family at the Leaky Cauldron and running into Harry.

This year would be different. She was at least going to be dressed properly, instead of in her nightdress, and she wouldn't allow his presence to stun her speechless again. She found what she was looking for in light blue summer robes, pulling it on quickly before pulling half of her hair back, leaving the rest of her now-past shoulder-length hair down.

Hermione, who seemed to have been up since the crack of dawn gave her a knowing look coupled with a raised eyebrow over the impossibly large book that she had been poring over. Ginny merely glared back, and Hermione took the hint, changing the subject.

"Excited for the Quidditch Cup, are you?" she asked pointedly.

Ginny smiled. She liked Hermione. The first time she had met her, she had been intimidated, since Ron had done nothing but talk about Harry and Hermione, and though he complained about her quite a lot, it was clear that he had a lot of respect for her. And, she was friends with Harry. When Ginny was eleven, she had thought that any girl who could be friends with Harry Potter must be quite impressive and most likely quite full of herself too.

But, Hermione had shown herself to be not only everything Ron didn't say about her, but someone that Ginny herself liked very much as well. She remembered the first time she'd realized Hermione was all right, in her first year.

"_His eyes are as green as a pickled toad. His hair is as dark as a blackboard. I wish he was mine, he's really divine, the hero who conquered the Dark Lord!" Fred and George taunted. They'd been following her around all week, chanting the words to the valentine, though Ginny had insisted that she had nothing to do with the embarrassingly stupid valentine. _

_She'd only hoped that they wouldn't mention his suspicions to Harry, though Malfoy had already taken care of that. _

"_Eyes as green as a pickled toad," Fred and George began to chant again as Ginny found herself now turning bright red, feeling as though all the students in the common room were focusing on her. _

"_Fred! George!" Hermione's voice made Ginny cringe. Great. She would be sure to run straight to Harry. _

_Instead, Hermione glanced at Ginny, met the younger girl's eyes briefly and then transferred her gaze back to Fred and George, the glare that she threw them nearly making up for the differences in height and stature. "I think the entire house has that song drilled into their brains. Interesting that you have it memorized when you weren't even there for the delivery of Harry's valentine," she said loudly, as though announcing it to the entire common room. _

_Fred and George, for their part, looked taken aback-or at least as taken aback as Ginny had ever seen them, and, given the fact that they had suffered through more than their share of scolding from Mrs. Weasley, this was actually quite impressive._

"_Now, some of us have work to do," Hermione continued. "And I'd rather not have to take a break to write a long letter to Mrs. Weasley, complaining about all the disturbances in the common room lately, what with the exploding salamanders, and the obnoxious rhymes." With purpose, she sat down at a table opposite Ginny, who found herself now watching the bushy-haired girl with newfound respect, bordering on awe. _

When Hermione had been attacked a few months later, she remembered panicking, realizing just how badly she needed to be rid of Tom and his influence on her. But through it all, Hermione had never blamed her.

In fact, she had gone out of her way to remind Ginny that it wasn't her fault the summer after her first year.

_The two girls had ended up sharing a room at the Leaky Cauldron, as Hermione's parents had dropped her off that day and the Weasleys had promised to take care of her. It only made sense, putting the only two girls together in their own room._

_Ginny, however, had found herself intensely uncomfortable at the thought of sharing a room with someone that had been petrified because of her. Not that she'd wanted it to happen, but on some level, perhaps she had. Perhaps it was because of her jealousy of Hermione that Tom had chosen to single her out. Perhaps she had let him because she had been so envious of the girl who was both Harry and Ron's best, and only, female friend. Maybe…_

_But Hermione had merely smiled brightly on being told that she would be sharing a room with Ginny, and had set to unpacking her things, seemingly unaware of the other girl's dark look. _

_Finally, the other girl had finished unpacking what she would need for the next few days, and Ginny thought she'd almost forgotten that someone else was in the room when she spoke up. _

"_Harry told me what happened last year." Ginny's face paled as the other girl looked up from her trunk, meeting her eyes. "I just wanted to let you know that it wasn't your fault. You're not the first witch to be manipulated by You-Know-Who, and I think it was really rotten of Lucius Malfoy to have given you that diary to begin with, and, well, I'm really sorry that your first year was so rotten, because it's hard enough starting at a new school without having something awful like that happening." _

_Ginny stared in shock, but luckily Hermione seemed to understand that this wasn't something that required discussing, and instead again met Ginny's eyes, as the redhead slowly nodded. _

Since then, Hermione had occasionally tracked Ginny down when she'd needed to complain about Ron, and Ginny had, of course, agreed that her brother was clueless, though he may have meant well. Hermione had also become very tactful at redirecting the conversation this summer whenever the twins made to tease Ginny about her crush on Harry.

"Very excited," she replied in response to Hermione's question. "I've been hoping Dad would get tickets all year. I just hope that Ireland doesn't botch things like England did. It would be good to at least have someone on the continent win, after all. Though, mind you, Viktor Krum's quite an impressive seeker, so they're up against a lot. But their chasers are brilliant. Imagine if you put the Ireland chasers together with Krum though. Now that would be a Quidditch team…" Ginny trailed off as Hermione laughed. "What?"

Hermione shook her head. "You're nearly as bad as your brother." She raised an eyebrow at Ginny. "Ron didn't mention that you're as much a Quidditch nut as the rest of your lot though. I suppose you get in on all their games over the summer?"

"No," Ginny said, exhaling in frustration as she sat on her bed, tucking one leg underneath her.

"No?" Hermione asked. "Why not?"

"They wouldn't let me." Ginny said, with a shake of her head. "Or, rather, Mum wouldn't let me, and Ron would argue that I'm too small to be much of competition." She shook her head. "Which is stupid, because I've been sneaking their brooms out of the shed since I was six, back when Charlie was seeker at Hogwarts. I'm not sure what I would be like in a real game, but I think I'd do all right. And I'm sure I could show them a thing or two, if they wouldn't discount me just because I'm the youngest and a girl."

Hermione's eyebrows were raised, and the older girl seemed impressed. "Well," she said, her expression darkening, "Ron's always been a bit thick. Have you considered trying out for the house team?"

"Yes, of course. But Alicia, and Angelina don't graduate for two more years, and Katie doesn't graduate for three. And of course Harry won't be going anywhere, and I don't think I'd enjoy Keeping. It involves quite a bit of sitting there, instead of being in the thick of things." She chewed her lip thoughtfully. "Er. Don't mention to Ron, Fred, or George, that I'm thinking about trying out, okay?" she felt her stomach turn as she thought of the teasing that she'd have to endure before she even got the chance to

"I won't tell them. They can just figure it out once you've shown up for try-outs and secured your place on the team," Hermione told her boldly.

Ginny merely grinned back as an explosion of laughter originated from the kitchen.

Without saying a word, the two girls exited, hurrying down the stairs to see what all the commotion was about.

"Oh hello, Harry, dear." Ginny cringed as she heard her mother's voice. She'd nearly forgotten in the last few minutes that Harry was coming today.

"Tell me what, Arthur?" her mother pressed on, and Ginny inwardly cringed, assuming it had something to do with the conversation she'd overheard this morning. She glanced at Hermione, then quickly glanced away, knowing that the elder girl wouldn't approve of whatever it was exactly Fred and George had done.

The two followed Ginny's mother into the kitchen doorway. Ginny stopped there, instantly glancing over at Harry and grinning. As he grinned back, she felt her cheeks burning and quickly looked away. Had he gotten taller over the summer? And cuter. No. Definitely not the line of thinking she wanted to pursue.

Her mother persisted, asking if what her father had to tell her had anything to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

Knowing Dad, he hadn't really intended to tell Mum, but now there it was. Ginny threw Fred a sympathetic smile. Fred, for his part, grinned back. They were in for one of Mum's famous reaming-outs, but Fred always pretended he didn't care, even if the yells from mum shook the entire house.

"Why don't you share Harry where he's sleeping, Ron?" Hermione's gentle suggestion interrupted the start of what was looking to be a row that would, no doubt, be a repeat of the one they'd had a few weeks back, about Fred and George's lack of OWLs, and the fact that the twins had no intentions of going into the Ministry, like Dad and Percy had, instead planning to open a joke shop.

Secretly, Ginny thought the joke shop sounded much more exciting than even visiting the Ministry of Magic, let alone working there, but as she wanted to stay in Mum's good graces until the time came when she tried out for Quidditch and was no doubt hollered at herself, she'd held her tongue.

After a few minutes of protest before Ron finally got the point, Ginny found herself following her brother and his two friends upstairs, laughing as she and Ron filled Harry in on Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, and all the inventing Fred and George had apparently done over the summer, and the fight over Fred and George's OWLs and future career paths.

Of course, the whole feeling included thing was stopped very quickly as Ron spoke up in the conversation to ask if Harry had heard from… someone. Hermione had immediately shot Ron a warning look, and he'd shut up very quickly, and Harry had looked extremely awkward.

Ginny's eyes darted between the three, feeling a rush of annoyance that, even though she was only a year behind them, and even though she was just as trustworthy as Ron, and more capable than her older brother of keeping a secret, as evidenced by the brief exchange, they'd still chosen to keep her out of the loop. She glanced at Hermione with a hurt expression on her face, as she wondered what the girl who had shared her room for the last few days felt that she wasn't trustworthy enough to know about.

But Hermione carefully avoided her eyes.

"I think they've stopped arguing. Shall we go down and help your mum with dinner?"

"Yeah, all right," Ron agreed.

Yes, something was definitely going on, Ginny decided as she followed the three downstairs. Ron was never this agreeable to helping with any sort of chores. Therefore, something was going on. However, what it was, Ginny was at a loss.

Dinner had passed quickly, and Ginny found herself laughing at her brothers' jokes, arguing Bill's hair with her mum, and discussing the coming Quidditch World Cup with all of them. By the time the dishes had been cleared and she'd been roped into helping with cleaning up afterwards, she'd nearly forgotten about the secret Harry, Ron, and Hermione were hiding from her.

Nearly.

She watched as the three made their way inside, the faintest hint of a pout forming on her lips as she was reminded, yet again, that she wasn't really a part of their group, even if sometimes it felt like she might be, if for only a brief period of time.

"He's nice enough, but a bit blind, that one," a voice spoke at her side. Ginny looked up, her face darkening to the colour of a tomato as she realized what Bill must be assuming.

"I wasn't-I mean, its not-"

"So you're out here, not pouting about the Harry's cluelessness?" Bill asked gently. He sighed and took a seat on the ground, stretching his legs out and leaning back on his elbows, glancing up at Ginny and nodding to the place next to him.

Ginny, in turn, sat down, though she was already armed with defensive answers in response to his assumptions about her crush on Harry.

"You know, Princess, there are going to be a lot of boys that are going to see you for what you are. It just takes us longer to notice a good thing when it's right in front of our nose." He said, and then grinned broadly at her. "Not that I'm itching for the day when we're putting up wards around the house to keep the boys away, but I have feeling that will be coming rather soon."

"Bill," Ginny giggled, shaking her head.

"Ginny, I'm serious. You're really growing into a pretty young woman, and it's only a matter of a time before the boys at your school start to notice. Frankly, I'm surprised Ron, Fred, and George aren't busy brushing up on their hexing skills." His expression turned more serious. "Just don't let them distract you from your studies."

"Who? Fred, George, and Ron? Because I think you know Fred and George's mission in life is to distract as many people as they can from their studies," she said, nodding seriously.

Bill laughed, and then gave her a stern look. "Not them, knucklehead. The boys. You've got the potential to be a powerful witch, you know. So, don't let anyone get in the way of that." He smiled a second later, breaking his serious expression. "What classes are you taking this year?"

"Arithmancy and Care of Magical Creatures, in addition to all of the regular classes, of course."

Bill nodded his approval. "Good choices." He raised an eyebrow. "Did Dad try to nudge you towards Muggle Studies too?"

Ginny grinned. "Lots of hinting about it, yes. Finally, I just informed him that being as one of my good friends is Muggle-born, I'll get plenty of education in all things Muggle, and that I'm well aware of the functions of electric plugs, beyond just collecting them. He let the subject drop fairly quickly after that."

Bill's laughter rang through the yard outside the burrow, intermingling with Ginny's as the evening wore on, the sun setting and the shadows on the yard growing longer. Finally, as the sun had completely disappeared, the stars now gleaming brightly in the sky, Bill stood up, interrupting the game they'd been playing of making up stories involving characters featured in the constellations.

"Well, little one, I think it's time for one of us to get to bed."

Ginny glanced at her watch and stared at him pointedly. "I didn't know you went to bed so early, Bill."

He shook his head, chuckling softly. "I don't. I'm also not getting up well before the crack of dawn tomorrow." He offered a hand to help her up. "C'mon."

Grudgingly, Ginny took it and then followed her brother towards the house.

Bill stopped, his hand hovering on the doorknob and turned to face her. "Just remember what I said about your studies."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Bill," she protested, a flush sweeping across her cheeks. "I don't think you have anything to worry about there."

"Don't underestimate yourself, Princess. As I said, it won't be long before those of your brothers remaining in town are brushing up on their hexes." With a cheeky grin, Bill opened the door and waved her inside.

"You're absolutely nutters," Ginny murmured, shaking her head.

"We'll see," Bill muttered, pulling Ginny into a brief, but fierce, hug before nudging her towards the stairs. Ginny gave him one last roll of her eyes before heading up the stairs and slipping into her bed.


	3. Chapter 3

Of Ravenclaws and Nosy Older Brothers

_Author's note: once again, much thanks goes to my lovely beta reader Rosie. And again, some dialogue has been quoted directly from Goblet of Fire. All of the interactions around Harry are again JK's property, not mine. _

The morning of the Quidditch world cup had come and gone in a blur. As Harry, Hermione, and Dad poked around with the tent, slowly but surely getting it set up, despite the elder Weasley's insistence upon setting it up without magic, Ginny could barely contain her excitement. All summer this day had seemed so far off, and now that they were finally here, with the cup merely hours away, she had barely been able to concentrate on the conversations all day. So, while Fred and George held their own running commentary as they watched the three bumbling around with the tent, instead Ginny had a seat around the unlit fire pit, imagining what it might be like to be here to play rather than watch.

She could almost hear the cheers of a distant crowd as an announcer shouted her name, feeling the exhilaration of the wind whipping at her face as she followed her teammates, all donning the traditional royal blue robes of England's Quidditch team.

"…And the rest of us will get some wood for a fire." Ginny was pulled out of her daydream as she heard her father approaching, Ron, Hermione, and Harry in tow.

She opened her mouth to protest, but Ron beat her to the punch.

"But we've got an oven. Why can't we just-"

"Ron, anti-Muggle security!" one look at her dad's excited face and Ginny had a feeling it was going to be a long evening, and dinner was going to be eventful. Or rather, more so than a regular night at the Weasleys, which was saying a lot, as dinners were generally punctuated with some new prank or other of Fred and George's. By far her favorite moment still remained the time when they snuck a fake, though realistic, tarantula onto Ron's plate while he wasn't looking. Of course, the two hadn't been allowed to leave their room for the next two weeks, and had even been forced to take dinner upstairs, but it had still been brilliant.

"When real Muggles camp, they cook on fires outdoors. I've seen them at it!" Arthur continued, his face bright with anticipation. In spite of herself, Ginny couldn't help but smile at seeing her father's face lit up with excitement. She might not have shared or even understood his zeal for all things Muggle, but seeing him looking like a kid was always fun, even if it would mean more hassle for them when it came time for dinner.

And so, she followed Fred and George away from their campsite in search of firewood, trailing behind her brothers, who seemed to be deep in conversation about something that most likely involved their latest product invention, and that was meant to be kept secret until the testing, judging from the furtive glances they kept giving her. Ginny rolled her eyes, feeling quite cranky. By this time, she was extremely fed up with being left out of everything. Despite what her brothers and their friends might think, she was not too young. Certainly not too young to be let in on supposed secrets, after all!

But her angry musings were interrupted as something flashed just past her nose. She jerked her head in the direction that the object had gone, eyes following the bright red ball of light, as it appeared.

"Good one, Terry," an older boy's voice asserted, and, just as the object was disappearing out of sight, a flash of light whizzed past her, and she heard a shout of "Immobilus!" and the object, which had stopped glowing, and was now revealed to be a small red disc, no larger than the palm of her hand, was directed into the waiting hand of a boy in his early twenties.

"Sorry about that," he apologized, glaring at a boy around her age. "Terry doesn't yet have control of his magical objects." He grinned at her and stuck his hand out. "I'm Jeremy Boot, and this is my baby brother, Terry." Terry, for his part, hung back. Ginny thought that he appeared to be feeling a bit sheepish, and more than a little embarrassed by his older brother's condescending tone.

"Ginny Weasley," she introduced herself, giving Terry a small sympathetic smile. "And I know of you, Terry. You're in my brother Ron's year, I think."

Before Terry could speak, Jeremy cut in again. "Weasley, you say? Your brother Charlie was a couple years ahead of me at school. Damn good keeper." He smiled hastily. "Er, you wouldn't mind keeping this quiet, would you?" he gestured towards the red disc, which he abruptly pocketed. "A bit of a secret, really. It's nothing too important, of course. But we'd appreciate you not telling your brothers or anyone else." With that, he gave another nasty look to his younger brother.

More out of pity for Terry than anything else, Ginny nodded. "I won't tell. I promise." She was spilling over with curiosity about the object now, given the funny reactions to someone else knowing about its existence, but, for Terry's sake, decided against asking any more questions.

"Good. Knew you seemed like a trustworthy girl," Jeremy grinned in what appeared to be his attempt at charming. Ginny noticed, however, that his eyes slid towards his little brother, and beneath the cheerful expression, he seemed to be quite angry with Terry. However, it was nice to be called trustworthy, especially with all the secrets floating around this week.

"Ginny! There you are!" Fred's voice interrupted the conversation as her older brother threw his arm around her. "Oh, hullo Boot," he said with a nod to Jeremy, who nodded back. An odd look crossed his face as he looked between Ginny and the two boys, but it was gone just as quickly, and instead he looked down at his sister. "Dad's going to take all night starting that fire, you know. We'd better hurry up and get the wood, or we might miss the start of the game."

"All right," Ginny said, tossing another sympathetic look towards Terry. "See you around," she said to the two boys, before turning and following Fred. Just before the two moved out of earshot, she heard Jeremy's voice again.

"Two centuries of a house secret, and you nearly blow it because you've got butterfingers! If Stewart knew…"

More secrets. At least, for once, she knew about something her brothers weren't aware of. However what exactly that was… well, that was the mystery, wasn't it? Though, really, the little red disc didn't appear to be that interesting. Though, she'd learned well before now that most things weren't quite as they seemed.

"George. Guess who Ginny was just talking to." Fred announced as they caught up with his twin. Ginny glanced up at Fred, still curious as to what the look on Fred's face when he'd met up with the two had meant.

"Who?" George asked, his arms full of firewood. "While you lot were off socializing, I was actually working, you know," he scolded. "Do you have any idea how difficult this is without magic? I don't know how Muggles do it, to be honest."

"Or why they do it when they have perfectly good stoves at home," Fred added. "But that's not important. Ginny was talking to the Boot brothers."

"Jeremy? Well, he was a bit of a stuffed shirt in his day, but otherwise not too bad. All the Ravenclaws are a bit like that, after all, aren't they? I mean, I suppose you must be, when you're in a house known for studying." George grinned. "Sometimes I wonder why Hermione wasn't thrown in there with them as well."

"Now George, no insulting Ickle Ronnikins' Ickle Er-my-nee. Anyway, that's not the point at all." He glanced down at Ginny. "The question, dear brother, is what our little sister was doing talking to a pair of Ravenclaw boys?"

"Oh dear. Fred, does this mean what I think it means?" George asked.

Ginny looked between the two, her expression darkening as the annoyance from earlier bubbled up. "If you two would stop that for just one minute and clue me into what in Merlin's name you're talking about!" she exclaimed.

Both of the twins turned to her, and Fred shook his head.

"Oh dear. And we'd hoped to prolong this at least another year." He and George exchanged looks, which only served to irritate Ginny further.

"Now, Ginny," George said, turning his attention back to her as he set down his pile of wood and the twins moved forward as one, both linking arms with her and leading her to a nearby picnic table, sitting her down.

"What in blazes are you two on about?" Ginny insisted, her face now burning with annoyance.

"Well, it seems it's time for us to talk to you." Fred began.

"About boys," George supplied.

"And the fact that they never have good intentions when it comes to girls." The two exchanged yet another look and then turned back to Ginny.

"Now, Gin," George continued, "How are your hexes?"

"My hexes are just fine, thank you. And if you two continue on with this line of discussion, I'd be happy to demonstrate. Well, Merlin, you're being ridiculous!" Ginny exclaimed, standing quickly, but the two grabbed her by the arms and gently but forcibly sat her right back down.

"You know, I liked it much better when she was sick with love over Harry. Least we didn't have to worry about him noticing. He is a bit daft when it comes to girls." Fred said to his twin.

"She's still sick with love over Harry though, aren't you Gin?"

Ginny glared up at her older brothers. "I am not!" she protested. "I mean, I never was, you know, sick with love," she corrected.

"Ginny, Ginny, Ginny," Fred shook his head. "Someone who would compare a bloke's eyes to a pickled toad-"

"In a singing valentine, no less," George supplied.

Fred smirked at his twin and then continued. "Quite right, someone who would compare a bloke's eyes to a pickled toad in a singing valentine could only be described as sick with love."

"Yes, but regardless of whether she's in love with Harry, we still need to teach her to watch out for other boys. They won't care that she's otherwise engaged, will they?"

"Quite right you are, George. And if she's hanging out with the likes of Boot's little brother, well…"

"Jeremy was quite the-oh, what's the word-heartbreaker, I suppose, when we went to school."

"Yes, he was known for running through girls fairly quickly, and if his brother is the same, well…"

"You think I'm dating Terry Boot?" Ginny exclaimed, finally realized what this was all about. She stood up again, brushing past them rather forcefully, shaking her head. "Not that it's any of your business, but you're both completely off your rocker. I'm not dating anyone, nor am I going to be fighting off scores of boys when we get back to school. Honestly!" she moved towards the pile George had set down and picked it up. "I've got my logs. I'll see you two back at the campsite." With that, she turned and left the twins standing in the wood, making her way back to where the two tents for her family had been set up.

Ginny had returned just in time to talk with Charlie and Bill, who had just arrived at the campground as her father commented on the passing Ministry members for Hermione and Harry's benefit. She threw smiles at the few that she recognized from having visited her dad at work, but for the most part steered clear of the 'Who's Who in the Ministry' talk, not entirely interested as she had no aspirations towards Wizarding politics, and had spent nearly her entire life hearing about them, not that she wasn't proud of Dad, but her mind certainly wasn't on the Ministry right now as the match grew closer.

As saleswizards began apparating every few feet, Charlie nudged her and grinned.

"Come on, Gin, let's get some souvenirs, eh?"

She smiled and followed him, purchasing a green rosette that chanted the names of Ireland's players. As they returned to the campsite, Fred and George accosted her.

"Ginny, you're not angry with us, are you?" Fred asked.

"Because really, we're merely looking out for your best interests," George asserted.

Ginny rolled her eyes and brushed past her brothers, letting out a tiny sound of annoyance.

"I liked it better when Harry was all we had to worry about," she heard George mutter.

"We never had to worry about Harry. And she wasn't speaking to us for awhile then, either, remember?"

"Oh, right."

Ginny's attempts at formulating some sort of reply for that were stifled as the sounds of a deep, booming gong rang through the woods.

"It's time!" her dad's voice shouted excitedly. "Come on, let's go!"

And, with that, Ginny rushed forward, nearly forgetting her tiff with Fred and George, and preparing to enjoy the largest Quidditch game of the decade.


End file.
